Poll of U.S. financial decision makers shows how digital transformation and AI are impacting workforce strategies and investment priorities

RGP® (Nasdaq: RGP), a global professional services firm, today released new research around how ongoing labor market challenges, growing digital transformation spend and the Fed’s September interest rate cut are impacting workforce strategy decisions for U.S. companies.

More than half of financial decision makers (51%) polled after the Fed’s September meeting expect their organization to increase some investments before the end of 2024, while four in five (81%) expect to increase investments by the first half of 2025. Respondents cited business process optimization and automation as the top area of increased investment if a lower interest rate environment were to unlock new capital in 2025, followed by digital transformation and AI.

“Many organizations entered the first quarter of the year with the expectation that they’d be operating in a lower interest rate environment and our research shows that last month’s rate cut is having a rather immediate impact on corporate investment,” said Kate Duchene, Chief Executive Officer of RGP. “Skills gaps have widened or remained the same for two in five organizations that we surveyed. We’re seeing that talent shortages and growing investment in change and transformation projects are driving organizations to rethink and increase their investment in workforce strategy in 2025.”

Shifting Workforce Strategies

Nine out of 10 financial decision makers (88%) said their organization is currently planning to increase overall investment in workforce strategy development in 2025. While 39% of organizations are focused on increasing resources to reskill and upskill existing employees, 24% are planning to increase investment in outside talent to fill skill gaps. One in five (22%) respondents reported plans to increase investment in internal headcount.

Half of financial decision makers (49%) said that a growing urgency to better leverage AI and automation could have the biggest impact on their investment in workforce development in the next 12 months. Most respondents (65%) believe that AI will account for less than 10% of job elimination within their organization in the next two years, while half (47%) expect AI to account for 11-30% of job creation in the same period.

Digital Transformation and AI Investment Remains Significant

RGP’s latest research illustrates the extent of digital transformation spending, which is expected to grow to a $9.15 trillion market by 2033.1 Nearly three in four respondents (71%) said their organization is spending $5 million or more on digital transformation projects in 2024, while 42% reported that their organization is spending more than $10 million this year.

Financial decision makers cited IT operations and security as the top priority within their organization’s AI investment over the next 12 months, followed by product development and innovation, and HR and talent management.

Growing Importance of ERP

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) software market is projected to grow to $238.79 billion by 2032, as cloud migration remains a top priority for organizations readying their data management for AI adoption.2 More than half of respondents (53%) said their organization either completed a cloud migration within the last 12 months or is currently going through a cloud migration. However, 13% of financial decision makers reported that their organization has not yet gone through a cloud migration.

Organizations are also placing greater emphasis on ERP within their M&A plans. Among organizations that are considering M&A over the next 12 months, 85% said ERP and data are important or critical factors in their search criteria.

The findings are based on a poll of 204 U.S. full-time professionals conducted between September 19 and October 2, 2024. The poll consisted of respondents at the director level or above who influence finance decision-making at organizations with $500 million or more in annual revenue.

ABOUT RGP

RGP is a global professional services firm that powers the operational needs and change initiatives of its client base utilizing a combination of three distinct brands:

  • On-Demand by RGP™: Our on-demand talent solutions, providing businesses with a go-to source for bringing in experts when they need them;
  • Veracity by RGP™: Our consulting arm, driving transformation across people, processes & technology; and
  • Countsy by RGP™: Our outsourced services for accounting, human resources and equity, helping startups, scaleups and spinouts focus on their growth.

Regardless of engagement model, we Dare to Work Differently® by leveraging human connection and collaboration to deliver practical solutions and impactful results. We offer a more effective way to work that favors flexibility and agility as businesses confront change and transformation pressures amid skilled labor shortages.

Based in Irvine, CA with offices worldwide, we annually engage with over 1,700 clients around the world from 43 physical practice offices, multiple virtual offices and approximately 3,300 professionals. RGP is proud to have served 88% of the Fortune 100 as of August 2024 and has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report (2024-2025 Best Companies to Work for) and Forbes (America’s Best Management Consulting Firms 2024, America’s Best Midsize Employers 2024, World's Best Management Consulting Firms 2024).

The Company is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the exchange’s highest tier by listing standards. To learn more about RGP, visit: https://rgp.com. (RGP-F)

1 Precedence Research: Digital Transformation Market Size, Share and Trends 2024 to 2034 https://www.precedenceresearch.com/digital-transformation-market 2 Fortune Business Insights: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Market Source: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enterprise-resource-planning-erp-software-market-102498

Investor Contact: Jennifer Ryu, Chief Financial Officer (US+) 1-714-430-6500 jennifer.ryu@rgp.com

Media Contact: Pat Burek Financial Profiles (US+) 1-310-622-8244 pburek@finprofiles.com

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